Hotels – If the £30,000 a night that the Queen is renting St James’ Palace is slightly above your budget, there are plenty of other options if you are planning on visiting during the Olympics. There are an estimated 100,000 hotel rooms available during this period as well as the usual group of home-owners looking to rent their apartments at double the normal rate. For accommodation all over the country, the Visit Britain website below is a good starting point in your search for a gold medal winning hotel room.

Internet – For up to date news on everything that is happening in the buildup to the London 2012 Games visit the London 2012 website. You will find information on all the venues and sports featuring at the games as well as maps, photos and virtual tours.

The BBC website will provide what is often regarded as the best live coverage when the Games begin on the 27th July. Visit the BBC website sport section for live text commentary as well as interviews and highlights.

Jesse Owens – Remembered equally for his brilliance on the track and field as for the defiant political message he sent out to Adolf Hitler. At the Berlin Olympics in 1936, Owens won 4 gold medals in the 100m, 200m, Long Jump and 4x100m relay. This performance has gone down as one of the most significant in Olympic history. At the Games where Hitler was attempting to showcase his resurgent Germany, Owens stood up to be counted in the face of racist propaganda. Albert Speer, Hitler’s Architect described him as being “highly annoyed” at each of Owens’ victories.

Kilometers

The new Olympic Velodrome, situated in the Olympic Village, used over 17 kilometers of steel cables to build the roof – that’s over twice the height of Mount Everest.

200 kilometers of electrical cable, enough to stretch from London to Nottingham, was fitted in 26 kilometer tunnels, allowing the 52 electricity pylons inside the Olympic Park to be taken down.

The Olympic Stadium has a 338km electrical cable fitted inside it, which will help power the giant high-definition television screens in the stadium – the first ever to be fitted for an Olympic Stadium.

London – The last time London hosted an Olympic Games was in 1908. The Games were much different in those days with only 22 different sports represented, including Tug of War, Water Motorsports and Lacrosse. The games were held in the White City Stadium, built for £60,000 as London was selected as an emergency replacement for Naples following an eruption at Mount Vesuvius. The Olympic Stadium for London 2012 cost around £486million. 2012 will see London become the first city to have hosted the Games on three occasions.

Michael Phelps – the legendary swimmer’s performances over the last two Olympic Games, in Athens and Beijing, have led many to believe that Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time. He showed any doubters that his six gold medals in Athens could not be bettered by matching the all-time record with 8 gold medals in Beijing. Having ruled out the possibility of competing in 8 events at London, the 26 year old Maryland-born swimmer needs only 3 more gold medals to become the most successful athlete in Olympic History. Can he steal Usain Bolt’s thunder?